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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Realism vs. Believability and the Design of HPs, Powers and Other Things
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<blockquote data-quote="Libramarian" data-source="post: 5877080" data-attributes="member: 6688858"><p>Doubtful. The problem with hitpoints is that the people who don't have a problem with them don't have a problem with them because they don't really think about them. This is key to not having a problem with hitpoints. Of course, the people who do have a problem with them won't accept that for an answer, so they constantly poke and prod until we have to make up elaborate justifications which are mostly baloney. Like Gary Gygax's in the 1e DMG.</p><p></p><p>Honestly, I don't think that any explicit explanation will actually capture why I'm fine with a mostly physical-based explanation of hitpoints. I've tried to explain it, but I mean it's mostly just made up.</p><p></p><p>The biggest fridge logic moment with hitpoints isn't even what damage and healing means in play, it's what's happening when you gain hitpoints when you level. I straight up just don't question that at all. Maybe I would say greater experience makes you harder to kill. That would be it.</p><p></p><p>I think what we're arguing about isn't actually the definition of hitpoints. Hitpoints just mean stamina. It conceptualizes stamina as a depletable resource that you manage.</p><p></p><p>What we're arguing about is what kinds of damage we want in the game. It's damage that colors the way we narrate and think about hitpoints.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I like to make the characters bloody. I like largely physical damage forms. I don't like "psychic damage", like damaging someone by insulting them. I think the reason I don't like this is not so much because it conflicts with my well-established, explicit definition of hitpoints. I just don't think it's cool.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libramarian, post: 5877080, member: 6688858"] Doubtful. The problem with hitpoints is that the people who don't have a problem with them don't have a problem with them because they don't really think about them. This is key to not having a problem with hitpoints. Of course, the people who do have a problem with them won't accept that for an answer, so they constantly poke and prod until we have to make up elaborate justifications which are mostly baloney. Like Gary Gygax's in the 1e DMG. Honestly, I don't think that any explicit explanation will actually capture why I'm fine with a mostly physical-based explanation of hitpoints. I've tried to explain it, but I mean it's mostly just made up. The biggest fridge logic moment with hitpoints isn't even what damage and healing means in play, it's what's happening when you gain hitpoints when you level. I straight up just don't question that at all. Maybe I would say greater experience makes you harder to kill. That would be it. I think what we're arguing about isn't actually the definition of hitpoints. Hitpoints just mean stamina. It conceptualizes stamina as a depletable resource that you manage. What we're arguing about is what kinds of damage we want in the game. It's damage that colors the way we narrate and think about hitpoints. Personally, I like to make the characters bloody. I like largely physical damage forms. I don't like "psychic damage", like damaging someone by insulting them. I think the reason I don't like this is not so much because it conflicts with my well-established, explicit definition of hitpoints. I just don't think it's cool. [/QUOTE]
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Community
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Realism vs. Believability and the Design of HPs, Powers and Other Things
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